Editing James Brown (section)

==Early life==
James Joseph Brown was born on May 3, 1933, in [[Barnwell, South Carolina]], to 16-year-old [[mixed-race]] African-American and Asian Susie (''née'' Behling; 1917–2004), and 21-year-old African-American and [[Native-American]] Joseph Gardner Brown (1912–1993) in a small wooden shack.<ref name="jbancestry">{{cite web |url=http://genealogy.about.com/od/aframertrees/p/james_brown.htm |title=Ancestry of James Brown |access-date=July 19, 2012 |archive-date=August 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805223343/http://genealogy.about.com/od/aframertrees/p/james_brown.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Brown's name was supposed to have been Joseph James Brown, but his first and middle names were mistakenly reversed on his birth certificate.<ref name="jbbirthname">James Brown (1998). ''Notable Black American Men''. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson Gale (Document no. K1622000047). Retrieved January 12, 2007, from the Biography Resource Center database.</ref><ref>Brown, J.; Eliot, M. (2005). "Introduction" in ''I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life Soul''. New York: New American Library. {{ISBN|0-451-21393-9}}.</ref>{{sfn|Brown|Tucker|1997|loc="Chapter One"}}

The Brown family lived in poverty in [[Elko, South Carolina]], which was an impoverished town in 1933.<ref name="rsfunk">{{cite news |last=Hirshey |first=Gerri |date=January 25, 2007 |title=Funk's Founding Father: James Brown, 1933–2006 |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/funks-founding-father-james-brown-1933-2006-69720/ |access-date=October 9, 2020 |archive-date=September 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919081748/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/funks-founding-father-james-brown-1933-2006-69720/ |url-status=live }}</ref> They moved to [[Augusta, Georgia]], when James was four or five.{{sfn|Rhodes|2008|p=8}} His family first settled at one of his aunts' brothels. They later moved into a house shared with another aunt.{{sfn|Rhodes|2008|p=8}} Brown's mother eventually left the family after a contentious and [[domestic abuse|abusive]] marriage and moved to New York.{{sfn|Rhodes|2008|p=9}}

He began singing in talent shows as a young child, first appearing at Augusta's Lenox Theater in 1944, winning the show after singing the ballad "So Long".{{sfn|Rhodes|2008|p=11}} While in Augusta, Brown performed [[clogging|buck dances]] for change to entertain troops from [[Fort Eisenhower#History|Camp Gordon]] at the start of World War II as their convoys traveled over a canal bridge near his aunt's home.{{sfn|Rhodes|2008|p=11}} This is where he first heard the legendary blues musician [[Howlin' Wolf]] play guitar.<ref name="How The Wolf Got Caged">{{cite web |last1=St. Clair |first1=Jeffrey |title=The Army Ain't No Place for a Black Man |url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/24/the-army-aint-no-place-for-a-black-man-how-the-wolf-got-caged/ |website=CounterPunch |date=May 24, 2019 |access-date=September 9, 2022 |archive-date=September 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220910033244/https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/24/the-army-aint-no-place-for-a-black-man-how-the-wolf-got-caged/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He learned to play the piano, guitar, and harmonica during this period. He became inspired to become an entertainer after hearing "[[Caldonia]]" by [[Louis Jordan]] and his [[Tympany Five]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Godfather of Soul, James Brown, Dead at 73 |url=http://voanews.com/english/2006-12-25-voa1.cfm?renderforprint=1&textonly=1&&CFID=20886561&CFTOKEN=46529354 |last=Kowalski|first=Ed|date=December 25, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070109212559/http://voanews.com/english/2006-12-25-voa1.cfm?renderforprint=1&textonly=1&&CFID=20886561&CFTOKEN=46529354|archive-date=January 9, 2007 |website=Voice of America}}</ref> In his teen years, Brown briefly had a career as a boxer.{{sfn|Rhodes|2008|p=13}}

At the age of 16, he was convicted of robbery and sent to a juvenile detention center in [[Toccoa, Georgia|Toccoa]].{{sfn|Rhodes|2008|p=15}} There, he formed a gospel quartet with four cellmates, including Johnny Terry. Brown met singer [[Bobby Byrd]] when the two played against each other in a baseball game outside the detention center. Byrd discovered that Brown could sing after hearing of "a guy called Music Box", which was Brown's nickname at the prison. Byrd has since said he and his family helped to secure an early release, which led to Brown promising the court he would "sing for the Lord".{{sfn|Rhodes|2008|p=16}}

Brown was released on a work sponsorship with Toccoa business owner S. C. Lawson. Lawson was impressed with Brown's work ethic and secured his release with a promise to keep him employed for two years. Brown was paroled on June 14, 1952.{{sfn|Rhodes|2008|p=16}} Brown went on to work with both of Lawson's sons, and came back to visit the family from time to time throughout his career. Shortly after being paroled he joined the gospel group the Ever-Ready Gospel Singers, featuring Byrd's sister Sarah.{{sfn|Rhodes|2008|pp=17–18}}